Volus World - Environment
The volus homeworld Irune features an ammonia-based ecology and a gravitational field 1.5 times that of Earth, as well as a high-pressure atmosphere. This is reflected in the physiology of the volus themselves. The volus are unable to survive unprotected in an atmosphere more suitable to humans and other carbon-based lifeforms, and as such require protective suits capable of providing the proper atmosphere, as well as being pressurized to support the volus. Traditional nitrogen/oxygen air mixtures are poisonous to them, and in the low pressure atmospheres tolerable to most species, their flesh will actually split open. As the volus are never seen outside of their protective suits, little else is known about their appearance and physiology. It has been noted; however, that volus have cloacae, a trait they share with the Salarians. Some volus individuals have also shown themselves capable of using Psychic powers. Despite individuals distinctly sounding like males or females to Human listeners, volus genders are apparently a mystery as well. The volus themselves consider the question both intrusive and hilariously irrelevant, to the point that supposedly the STG has a running tally of all the blatant misinformation the volus have said on the subject. With little else to go on, people simply assign an arbitrary gender value on a volus based on what they sound like. Culture Volus culture is dominated by trade, whether it be of land, resources, or even other tribe members. The volus have a reputation as traders and merchants, and many, such as Barla Von, work as some of the best financial advisers in Citadel Space. Due to the volus not being physically adept, they tend not to be violent, and can even seem overly-pacifistic and cowardly to other, more militant species. The volus homeworld Irune is remarkable for having done away with warfare as an institution of the state, as the volus lack the romantic view of war found in the galaxy's more aggressive species. Physical skirmishes between groups rarely last long, and are almost always ended by social castigation, bargaining agreements, or harsh economic sanctions. The volus hold in high regard an artifact called the Book of Plenix, which calls for charity and forgiveness of debts in case the volus do become involved in war. The artifact's last known location is on their homeworld Irune during the onset of the Reaper War in 2186. Volus have two names but no family names. According to volus sensibilities one cannot own a person, so using a family name would essentially be laying claim to their offspring. Possibly because of their tribal origins, volus tend to refer to members of other races by their source world rather than species name (i.e. "Earth-clan" instead of "human"). A notable exception to this is that they refer to Quarians as "Migrant-clan", or "clanless", due to their lack of a homeworld. They also tend to refer to themselves as "Vol-clan". Known volus nonverbal cues include laying one's palms flat on a table, an action roughly analogous to humans steepling their fingers. 'Volus Characteristics' • Random height: male 3‘9” + 2d4; female 3’7” + 2d4. • Random weight: male 75 lb + (result of 2d4 from height); female 70 lb + (result of 2d4 from height). Skills Speak Language (Volus) and Common Lore (Volus), Trade(Merchant) or Trade (Armourer), Commerce or Inquiry, startd with 10d100 Thrones. Wounds Volus characters begin play with 1d5+6 Wounds. Fate Points Roll a d10. On a roll of 1-4, the character begins play with 1 Fate Point. On a roll of 5-8, the character begins play with 2 Fate Points. On a roll of 9-10, the character begins play with 3 Fate Points. Traits • High Pressure Suit: Whenever the volus is damaged by a critical hit, while not protected by Shields or Plating, his suit is ruptured causing it to decompress (multiple critical hits do not stack). The Volus must then make a Repair DC 15, spending 1 action in the process, as well as one Repair Kit. For each action (including the ones spent repairing the suit) the volus takes 1d6 damage from decompression, done directly to his HP. Other characters can repair the suit instead of the Volus, but they must make the same check, spend the actions normally, spend one Repair Kit, and must be adjacent to the volus. If this damage sends the Volus to 0 or lower HP, he falls unconscious and is forced to make a Fortitude save DC 10. Failure indicates the Volus did not managed to resist the continuous effects of decompression and dies. Success means he is able to resist the decompression and does not die that round. Each additional round while the suit is ruptured forces the Volus to make one new Fortitude save. The DC increases +1 for each round, and this increase is cumulative. Although the suit weighs 15 lbs, the Volus have had thousands of years of getting used to move around in mechanized pressure suits so they ignore the effects of the suits weight, not counting it for carrying capacity purposes. • Small arms: Due to their size, volus cannot use weapons designed for Medium or larger creatures. They can only use weapon designed for Small creatures. • Unimpressive: Due to their reputation as being craven, other races tend to ignore volus in combat situations. Volus characters will be ignored by enemies until there are no other opponents or until the Volus actively participates in the combat (by using powers or attacking, but not from simply moving around), after which they start to perceive the Volus as a threat and will attack him as if it was any other normal opponent. Category:Player Character Homeworlds